The $85,000 mark — $85,087.45, to be exact — was reached, which, although shy of the original $100,000 goal, was more than organizers believed would be collected given the area’s current economic climate.

“Originally, I said if we reached $75,000 I’d be ecstatic,” Sault Star Santa Fund co-ordinator Brunella Gagliardi said. “Hopefully, we can do a lot better next year. Other than that, the campaign ran smoothly.”

The campaign was slated to wrap Dec. 31, but was extended to Jan. 9. By Jan. 3, $81,559 was secured. By week’s end, the $85,000 mark was reached, mostly via donations made by credit card.

Since 1981, Sault Star Santa Fund has raised some $2.4 million for the community's less fortunate. In 2016, the fund garnered $95,846. Money donated helps pay for the annual Christmas Cheer effort.

The 2016 campaign featured donation kiosks at The Sault Star and Station Mall, whereas previous years saw booths at additional locations. Gagliardi said the 2017 campaign will likely be set up similarly to that of 2016.

“We managed to squeak through … and just squeak through with the money that we had,” Christmas Cheer convener Diane Marshall told the Sault Star Tuesday.

Although “thrilled” with the $85,000 in Santa Fund proceeds coming her way, Marshall predicts “dramatic” challenges — and changes — in the way in which Christmas Cheer operates in 2017.

Officials plan to meet Wednesday to begin mapping out how things will unfold. And should demand mirror, or surpass, that of 2016 — 1,688 households from Bruce Mines to Batchawana were assisted, a 241 increase from the previous year — adjustments are inevitable.

“We’ll have to take a hard look at what we’re distributing and how we’re doing it,” said Marshall, adding $74,000 alone was used to purchase food in 2016.

It takes nearly $100,000 to run the program.

“Many, many of our recipients are doing the best they can with as little as they have,” Marshall said. “I think it’s very difficult what they’re forced to consider doing with what little money they have. We just have to be cognizant of that.”